In some vehicle front body structures, a front portion of each front side frame is protruded forward, the protruded front portion is formed as a fragile portion, and a subframe is provided at a location that is below and rearward of the fragile portion substantially in the vehicle body front-rear direction (i.e., below the front side frames).
According to such a vehicle front body structure, when, at the time of a frontal collision, impact load is input from the front to the structure, the input impact load compresses and deforms a fragile portion during an early period of the frontal collision. After the fragile portion is compressed and deformed, the subframe is bent during a terminal period of the frontal collision so that the front side frames undergo bending deformation, absorbing impact energy (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-16327).
In the vehicle front body structure of the foregoing unexamined patent application publication, front portions of the front side frames are protruded forward and formed as fragile portions. Therefore, it is conceivable that the front side frames in this structure are elongated in the vehicle body front-rear direction, leading to an increased length of the entire vehicle body.
Furthermore, of each front side frame in this structure, a region that undergoes bending deformation during the terminal period of a frontal collision has a substantially consistent cross section. Therefore, the sites at which the individual front side frames actually bend vary in location, so that it is not easy for the structure to achieve stable absorption of impact energy of a frontal collision.
The present application describes a vehicle front body structure capable of allowing minimization of the length of an entire vehicle body and stably absorbing impact energy.